


Royalty

by starchitect



Series: Hope [4]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Cute, Established Relationship, F/M, Flower Crowns, Flowers, If you squint lmao, spoilers???, takes place during Future Connected
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:09:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24736696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starchitect/pseuds/starchitect
Summary: She sighs and leans into Shulk with a wistful smile. “It was.”Then she moves away to look up at him, and the crooked flower crown atop his head. She carefully adjusts it.“And now, I get to make flower crowns for you. They really make you look like royalty. It makes me wonder what a real crown would look like.”
Relationships: Melia Ancient | Melia Antiqua/Shulk
Series: Hope [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764547
Comments: 12
Kudos: 39





	Royalty

**Author's Note:**

> so you know that one Quiet Moment in Future Connected where Melia and Nene talk about flowers ;w;
> 
> I couldn't stop thinking about it so here's this
> 
> and some Shulkelia because I have no self-control

“Aaaaand done! Here you go, Miss Melia!”

Melia pauses to look at Nene, who is proudly presenting her latest creation—a chain of Despair Clovers and Baleful Cobalt woven together into a red and blue flower crown. She smiles and accepts the gift.

“Oh, it’s lovely, Nene. Thank you.”

The colors really complement each other, she thinks. Then, as she carefully places the crown atop her head, her brain helpfully reminds her that these are the colors Shulk is usually wearing. She hopes the pink dusting her cheeks isn’t too obvious.

But she quickly dismisses those thoughts in favor of finishing off her own project. She makes the last knot before neatly tying it off and offering it to the Nopon.

“And here. This one’s for you.”

“Ah! So prettyful! Miss Melia so skilled!”

The golden Mystic Dahlias bring out the pale yellow in Nene’s fur. Her eyes sparkle as she adorns the crown, and Melia smiles warmly.

“Think nothing of it, Nene. It was fun.”

Then, she turns to her other side and scoops up another crown. This one is lavender with bits of white, a combination of Stardrops and the petals of Sea Berries. 

“Now then, should we present these to Shulk and Kino?”

Nene bounces up and down with excitement. “Yesyes! Mister Shulk and brotherpon be very happy!”

When they arrive back at Gran Dell, Shulk is waiting by the entrance. He perks up when he sees the two of them approaching.

“Oh! Melia, Nene! There you are!” He jogs up to them and walks with them. “I was starting to worry you’d gotten lost or something.” He then tries to take Melia’s hand, but stops when he notices the ring of flowers she’s holding.

“What’s this?”

Melia stops while Nene hurries on ahead. She turns to Shulk and presents her gift.

“Nene and I were making crowns out of flowers. We thought you and Kino might like one, too.”

Shulk smiles and leans in to kiss her jawline. “That’s really sweet of you.” He carefully takes the crown into his own hands. “This reminds me of when Fiora tried to teach me how to make these when we were kids. I remember making one for Reyn, but it wasn’t nearly as good as this.”

Melia hums. “I had lots of practice. I used to make crowns like these for Kallian and I when we were younger.”

“Oh, really?”

“Mmhm. You remember the Imperial Villa, right? That’s where we used to make them. Every time Kallian would visit, Mother and I would always have a crown waiting for him.”

And Kallian would always wear them proudly around the palace, no matter how unprofessional it was. Melia always laughed whenever Yumea tried and failed to get him to take them off. It never ceased to make her smile.

She glances toward Alcamoth in the distance, and she’s reminded of all the memories she made there. She remembers how it used to be a proud city, and when she looks at it now, it’s a little saddening. Now it is nothing more than an empty shell, completely devoid of life and light. The Fog King roams around there now, and Melia is disgusted at the thought. That _thing_ is not Alcamoth’s ruler, _she_ is. She and the rest of her people should be the ones living there. It is _their_ home, and no one else’s.

And as her thoughts get darker, Shulk brings her back into the present with a squeeze of her hand.

“That sounds like it was fun.”

Suddenly she’s reminded of Kallian and her mother again. Of nights spent counting the stars and pointing out all the constellations. Melia remembers the time Kallian brought her a tome on astrology, and it was the only book she ever read for the next few weeks. She had no idea where he got it from, but it didn’t matter. She had always been fascinated by the stars, and being able to study them was an absolute blessing.

She sighs and leans into Shulk with a wistful smile. “It was.”

Then she moves away to look up at him, and the crooked flower crown atop his head. She carefully adjusts it.

“And now, I get to make flower crowns for you. They really make you look like royalty. It makes me wonder what a real crown would look like.”

And wouldn’t that be a sight to behold. Melia has time and again entertained the thought of making Shulk her husband consort, and each time it puts butterflies in her stomach. Shulk would be _Emperor_ of the High Entia, and that’s such an odd picture, him being a Homs, but to Melia, it just feels _right._ She can just envision a regal headpiece in place of those flowers, and it suits him more than she could ever imagine.

Shulk seems to be pondering the idea as well, because his eyebrows furrow and he gets a lopsided grin.

“Royalty?” he says, a light chuckle on his lips. “That would be an interesting sight.”

Melia hums and leans into him again. “For sure.”

And as they begin walking back through Gran Dell’s entrance, she decides that _Shulk Antiqua_ has a very nice ring to it.

**Author's Note:**

> Baleful Cobalt is not a real flower in Xenoblade lmao, I made it up purely for this fic because there are no blue flowers in the Eryth Sea/Alcamoth Collectopaedia
> 
> also shoutout to my Shulkelia shipmates in Discord, y'all da real MVPs


End file.
